...Paid sick leave scores second Oregon win
(From Page 1)
555 represents over 400 workers in Eu-
gene whose union contracts provide
paid sick leave, but only after an illness
has lasted three days. Now those work-
ers — grocery workers at Fred Meyer,
Safeway, and Albertsons, and meat-cut-
ters at Red Apple Market and Long’s
Meat Market — will be able to use the
sick leave on the first day of an illness.
County sneak attack
The sick leave ordinance enjoyed
broad support from the public, and even
from some business owners, like Falling
Sky Brewery (which became the site of
the sick leave campaign’s victory party
July 30.)
But because 40 hours a year of paid
sick leave could increase payroll costs
(by as much as 1.9 percent), the Eugene
Area Chamber of Commerce fought ve-
hemently against the ordinance. The
week before the vote, it found sympathy
among the Lane County Board of Com-
missioners. Months after Eugene City
Council held the first hearings on the
sick leave ordinance, Lane County
Commissioner Jay Bozievich rushed
forward three ordinances aimed at un-
dercutting or preventing the sick leave
ordinance. The first of the three county
ordinances exempts other public em-
ployers from the ordinance (The city or-
dinance ended up doing that anyway).
The second declares that city ordi-
nances regulating employment condi-
tions don’t apply to employers if their
addresses are outside city limits. The
third, dubbed the “nuclear option,” de-
clares any local government ordinance
that regulates employment conditions to
be “without legal force and effect” in
Lane County. All three ordinances de-
clare an emergency, so that they could
take effect immediately, “for the imme-
diate preservation of the public peace,
health and safety.”
The anti-paid-sick-leave county or-
dinances were scheduled for a vote July
21, when Commissioner Pete Sorenson,
a supporter of paid sick leave, was
scheduled to be out of town. The first
two passed 4-0, and the third passed 3-
1.
Willamette University law professor
Charles Diller, an expert on pre-emp-
tion, said Lane County’s pre-emption
ordinance may be unprecedented.
County governments often set a regula-
tory floor that applies county-wide, but
Diller said he’s never heard of a county
telling cities they may not regulate in a
given area.
Incredibly, the three county ordi-
nances cite the fact that Oregon puts
counties in charge of protecting public
health as grounds for attempting to
strike down a city public health meas-
ure. In contrast, when Portland City
Council was considering its ordinance,
Multnomah County officials testified —
quite reasonably — that paid sick leave
is justified on public health grounds be-
cause it reduces the spread of conta-
gious disease in workplaces and
schools.
The Lane County ordinances also
cite the “home rule authority” counties
are given under the Oregon constitution.
But the City of Eugene has the same
home rule authority. By approving the
three ordinances, County commission-
ers set the stage for a taxpayer-funded
legal battle between two public bodies.
If and when that comes to pass, inde-
pendent legal experts say the County is
likely to lose.
Sick leave supporters reacted with
shock when Lane County approved the
three ordinances, and they’re vowing to
hold the commissioners accountable:
Commissioners Jay Bozievich, Sid
Leiken, and Faye Stewart, voted for all
three, and County Chair Pat Farr voted
for the first two.
“Every action has an equal and op-
posite reaction,” said Local 555 Secre-
tary Treasurer Jeff Anderson. “In 2016,
the Lane County commissioners will
see theirs.”
The Members and Officers of
Office and Professional Employees
International Union Local 11
honor all working men and women
on this important holiday.
Happy Labor Day 2014!
The Pacific Northwest Iron
Workers District Council
3815 Columbia Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
1-800-547-8902 (toll free)
(360) 719-1766 (Vancouver line)
(503) 257-6691 (Portland line)
and
Affiliated Local Unions
Iron Workers Local 14, Spokane, WA.
Iron Workers Local 29, Portland, OR.
Iron Workers Local 86, Seattle, WA.
Iron Workers Local 751, Anchorage, AK.
Iron Workers Local 506, Seattle, WA.
Iron Workers Local 516, Portland, OR.
We Honor All the Working Men and Women on Labor Day.
We wish the working families of Oregon
and Washington a very special Labor Day.
PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
AUGUST 15, 2014